You, San Francisco and Me
by IWishIWasAMermaid
Summary: Keely tells her kids about a very special trip to San Francisco...OneShot.


_**Do you remember our trip to San Francisco?**_

"Mommy! Daddy says we're to ask you about your trip to San Francisco. Tell us Mommy, tell us!"

And there was me, expecting a quiet night watching TV. Well, with my kids, that was never an option.

"Yeah Keely, tell them!" my husband came bounding through, almost as excited as the kids. I swear, he's still a kid himself. But I guess that's all part of his charm.

"Okay, calm down," I laughed, and leaned my head back, transporting myself into the car, driving to San Francisco. Even though it was years ago, it feels like yesterday.

"_Are we ready to go?" Phil asked, bundling the last of the cases into the car. _

"_Ready as ever!" I cried, punching the air with my arm. _

_It wasn't that weird, was it? Two friends driving all the way to San Francisco. It wasn't mad. I mean, why not? Friends can do anything together. And just because we're boy and girl, doesn't mean we're attached or anything._

"_Okay kids. Have a great time!" Mr. Diffy waved us off._

"_Yeah. Are you sure you don't want to take the Skyak? You'll be there in an hour," Mrs. Diffy tried to persuade us. I think she thinks that Skyaking will be safer. But actually, when you think about it, falling a couple of thousand feet probably guarantees more chance of death, than if you crash a car. _

"_No, Mom. We want to drive," Phil says, and gets in the driver's seat of the car. Phil got his license before me, and he's the only one who has his own car. Funnily enough, he seems to be able to look after money better than me. But is it my fault that Urban Outfitters was having that HUGE sale? I didn't think so. _

"_Have fun," Pim says, looking angry. Probably because while we're experiencing the San Francisco atmosphere, she's taking in the glorious scenes of Pickford. Not exactly the most fabulous of places to spend your summer holidays in. _

_So, as we waved goodbye, to the city of Pickford, where I, and for the best part of three years, Phil had grown up, we both knew that we were moving onto a new experience. And best of all, we were doing it together. _

_**We drove at 3am after a night in Tahoe **_

"Is that it?" Stephy asked, her bright blue eyes gazing up at me. She's six. The oldest of my two children.

"Nu-uh," Ryan shoves her. "Mommy didn't even say San Fran disco."

My husband picks Ryan up, and lets him balance on his knees. "Go on Keely."

"_Okay, so first night in a bed and breakfast," I commented, the next morning. "And it sucked. How many more of these places do we stop at?"_

"_Well, we have an actual hotel when we get to SF, but we have one stop when we're going back," Phil explained, as he checked hi rear-view mirror for any oncoming traffic._

"_Ugh. Well, hopefully San Francisco will be so worth it!" I smiled, thinking about what was going to happen. Maybe the big city would help me sort out all the weird feelings I'd been having. Especially when I'm with Phil. _

"_It will be," Phil promised. _

_I raised my eyebrows. "I'm holding you to that."_

"_Well, actually, in the future, San Francisco is kept like it is now. They wanted to keep one city to it's 21st century glory. And San Francisco won. So, I actually know what it's like," Phil said, flicking the indicator on the car. _

_I thought about this for a minute. The city that is permanently like this, even in the future. So instead of having to wonder where and what Pickford is, in the future, I could just relax, knowing that San Francisco would always be the same. "Awesome."_

"_Aren't you tired?" Phil asked, while he stifled a yawn. _

_I nodded, but then shrugged. "Yeah. So what? It doesn't matter. We can catch up on our sleep in San Francisco, and then, at night, be ready to see what goes on."_

"_Don't you want to go in the daytime? You can see things better," Phil commented._

"_Via says Chinatown is lovely at night," I said, dreaming about the little lanterns, that glowed every colour, and then, getting served a Chinese meal. With Phil by my side, obviously. That almost goes without saying. _

"_Well, we'll go there then," Phil said, and he accelerated up the highway. _

_**  
We sang along with James Taylor down the highway **_

"_Turn on the radio," I said, bored of the music-less atmosphere. And, with music, Phil might not notice my silence. Because I can just say I was listening. _

_Hmm…but then he'll wonder why I'm not singing. _

"_You turn it on. I'm driving, remember?" Phil said, taking a brief glance in my direction, and then smiling. _

_So I leant over, and turned on the radio. I almost snatched my hand away, when he moved his on the gear lever. But I resisted. He's know right then that there was something up. _

"_Oh my gosh," I said, as James Taylor began to play on the radio. "My Mom loves this song."_

"_Ditto. It's one of her favourite songs from this century," Phil said, and then we look at each, and simultaneously begin singing. _

"_Walking my baby back home, arm in arm, over meadow and farm, walking my baby back home," we both sing, and then carry on, until the song ends. _

"_We are such geeks," I laughed. _

_Phil nods. "We're cute geeks though, right?"_

_I nodded with him. "Definitely."_

_**We got there just in time for the new day **_

"What's a geek?" Ryan interrupts, and my husband just laughs. "Ryan, listen to Mommy's story."

Ryan puts his thumb in his mouth, and then settles down to listen.

_We got there just as the sun was rising. It was amazing. Before we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge, we stopped, parked the car, and sat on the cliffs overlooking the city. It was beautiful. And sitting there, with Phil made it all the more special. _

"_Beautiful, huh?" Phil asked, reading my thoughts completely. _

_I could only nod. It had rendered me completely speechless. And if you talk to Phil you'll know that that was almost impossible back then. _

"_Remind me to bring a camera next time I come here," Phil smiled. _

"_You didn't bring a camera?" I asked, finding my tongue._

_Phil shook his head. "Nope. I was going to buy one when we got here."_

"_Good thing I have one in my case then, isn't it?" I smiled. _

_Phil's eyebrows knitted together. "Which case is it in?"_

"_Um…" I thought, trying to remember which of my three cases the camera was in._

_Phil shook his head. "Never mind, we'll find it later." ****_

Hand in hand down the streets of Chinatown 

_So, like he promised, we went to Chinatown. Light, and dark, we saw it all. One day in San Francisco, spent in Chinatown. Which was totally amazing. _

"_You want Chinese for dinner?" he joked. "Now, I wonder where they do that?"_

_I laughed, and just took in the sheer beauty of the small part of town. I never knew that all this life existed outside Pickford. People were actually living their own lives, not worried about what was going on in other places. This was their lives. Everyday they woke up to this. _

_I couldn't imagine ever doing that. _

_Not waking up in Pickford. Not living in Pickford. Not doing everything that I was so used to doing. _

"But Mommy, you don't live in Pickford. Well, we don't live in Pickford," Stephy says, her golden ringlets bobbing as she says so.

"I know. But back then, I'd never been out of Pickford. Never. So, I was awestruck," I explained. I've got used to explaining things. Having little kids does that.

"Oh," she says, and falls silent, obviously thinking about what I've just told her.

_**  
We made the Golden Gate by sundown **_

"_You got the camera?" Phil double-checked as we pulled into the space next to the Golden Gate. _

_I nodded, and then grinned. "Well, I think so…"_

"_Keely, you'd better have it," Phil said, and then leaned over and tickled me. _

"_Get off me, you doughnut!" I said, running out of the car, laughing. _

_Phil followed me, and pretty soon we were playing Tag on the cliff top. Dangerous, I know, but we were kids. We didn't care. Life seemed pretty indestructible right then. _

"_Okay, I give!" I cried, collapsing on the ground, followed shortly by Phil. _

"_Well, you would have won if you'd stuck it out for three more seconds. Because I was just about to say the same thing," Phil sighed. _

"_Awesome," I laughed, and then propped myself up on my elbows, watching the sun set over the city. _

_Phil grabbed the camera, and before I could protest, he had a picture of me, sitting there, watching the scene. _

"_Hey!" I cried, as the flash went off in my face. "I thought I said no pictures!"_

_Phil shrugged. "You looked really pretty sitting there. I had to remember it."_

"_Well, thank you. But no more pictures," I said, smiling at him. _

_Phil raised his eyebrows, and I knew that he wasn't going to obey. But, it was worth a try. _

_**  
Spent time with Joe on the side of the road **_

_**Said hey give us a call if you get up to Colorado **_

_After that, we went up to the bridge every night. Sometimes we took food with us, sometimes we'd have it afterwards. Or beforehand. It became a tradition. _

_One night there was this other couple up there. Joe and his wife. They invited us to their house in Colorado, but we turned it down. We didn't want anything in the way of our trip in Colorado.**  
**And all the while, Phil and I were becoming closer, and closer. Until it was inevitable that we both felt things for each other. Things that we were both really scared to admit._

_**  
Well we followed the wind, taking life with ease  
And an infatuation with being free **_

_The main difference that we had in San Francisco, that we didn't have in Pickford, was freedom. We got to go to sleep when we liked, got to wake up when we liked, got to eat when we liked. _

_We were two eighteen year olds, in San Francisco, with no parental supervision, yet we weren't going for the nightlife scene. Not once did we visit a club, or go out with other teenagers. We spent all our nights on the cliffs overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge. _

_Anyone looking would have thought that me and Phil were a couple. But we both knew the truth. We wanted to be. But we weren't._

_**  
Baby I still love you, I still love you like I did  
When it was just you, San Francisco and me **_

"Did you love him Mommy?" Steph asks.

This question surprises me. How many times does a parent hear her six year old daughter asking if she loved someone?

But I have to answer her truthfully.

"Yes. Yes, I did love him," I nod. **__**

Arm in arm we stared up at the stars  
Talking about fate and hot rod cars 

_And then, on our last night in San Francisco, when we both knew that the holiday was coming to an end, we finally got it. That once we were out of here, the magic would be gone. _

_So, on that night, after the sun had set, we sat, counting the stars. And then Phil turned to me…and kissed me. _

_I'll never forget it. It was the beginning, and the end. It was the light, it was the darkness. It was the sun, and it was the rain. It was everything that I had ever wanted, and everything that I had ever lost. _

_And then, we turned back to the stars, and carried on counting them. Like nothing had happened. Only we knew that it had happened. _

_**  
Singing like cowboys at home on their range  
Never wanting loss, never wanting change **_

_So, on the drive home, we both discussed what that kiss meant. It meant that we both knew that we loved each other. It meant that we were going to be together forever. It meant so many things. _

_And then, just like the drive up there, we turned on the radio. Only, instead of James Taylor, it was Green Day. _

"_This is the dawning of the rest of our lives, on holiday," we sung. _

_Both songs meant something to us. And nothing else mattered anymore. _

_  
**Well we followed the wind, taking life with ease  
From Tampa to Seattle, and back to New Orleans **_

"So, that's what happened when we went to San Francisco," I smiled, and then looked at the clock. "Oh my gosh! It's about time for bed!"

"But what about a bedtime story?" Ryan asked, grumpily.

My husband caught my eye, smiled, and then picked Ryan up. "That was your bedtime story, kiddo."

"Aaw…" Ryan complained, as he was taken out of the room.

"Mommy. That was a really nice story. Can we go to San Francisco one day?" Stephy asked.

I smiled. "Course we can. And we'll take you to the Golden Gate Bridge."

"Yay. Thank you," Stephy said, and hugged me tightly. "Night night, Mommy."

"I'm coming in to say night night," I said, and watched as she scuttled upstairs.

Then I sighed, and leaned back on my chair.

"Keels?" My husband poked his head round the corner.

I looked up at him. "Yeah?"

"Ryan wants you to go say goodnight to him," he said, coming in and sitting next to me.

I sigh. "Yeah."

"So, you told Stephy that we're going back to San Fran, did you?" Phil asked.

I looked at him. "Yeah. Except this time, it's not going to be just you, me and San Francisco."

"Is that such a bad thing though? You have two kids to enjoy the experience with," Phil said, looking at me, in the same way as he did that evening in San Francisco.

"No. I guess not," I smiled.

That holiday in San Francisco gave me everything. My husband. My kids. My life.

And I wouldn't swap it for the world.

_**  
Baby I still love you, I still love you like I did  
When it was just you, San Francisco, and me **_


End file.
